I just received a box of new Masters of the Universe figures in the mail from Mattel, so get ready for a nice sprinkling of MOTU reviews in the week or two ahead. Today I'm checking out one of the two new deluxe releases: Dragon Blaster Skeletor. Dragon Blaster Skeletor is based on the 1985 MOTU variant from the vintage line. Mattel has done a pretty decent job of keeping He-Man and Skeletor available while not completely flooding the shelves with them, so getting another Skeletor variant is surely welcome if you're a fan of ol' bonehead. And, c'mon, who isn't? You have class and taste if you're reading this site, so surely you appreciate the universe's greatest villain toting around a water spewing dragon in his back. The vintage figure can be had incomplete for a decent price but that lock and the chain are crazy expensive vintage accessories (between $80 and $150 for the set) so I could see some folks picking this figure up just to accessorize their vintage piece. Let's take a look at Dragon Blaster Skeletor after the break and see if he knows how to train this dragon...
The Facts:
Height: 5 3/4ths inches
Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, boot swivels, swivel/hinge knees, balljointed hips, waist swivel, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, and a barbell jointed head.
Accessories: Chest armor, back armor/ w dragon, dragon head, sword, padlock, chain, and minicomic.
Non-Scalper Price: $22 dollars
Comparison:
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On the left is the MOTU Origins Dragon Blaster Skeletor while the vintage Dragon Blaster Skeletor. they look pretty similar, though the colors are brighter on the newer release. This is my vintage figure from childhood and the only thing piece missing is the padlock.
The Positives:
* Like the vintage figure, Dragon Blaster Skeletor takes a basic Skeletor figure (the action feature is in the armor, not in the toy like Battle Armor Skeletor or Terror Claws Skeletor) and adds on some special armor with a dragon attached. The armor is a nice magenta and crimson and feels very MOTU. It's made from a more pliable plastic, so it's easy to take on and off without fear of breakage.
* Skeletor comes with a standard and reused headsculpt, but it's a really good one. I really like the paintwork here. This mold makes it look like Skeletor is smiling a bit, but it's also somewhat reminiscent of the vintage toy. Skeletor looks happy about something here, which is just kind of unsettling on its own. You just know that he thinks carrying a young dragon around on his back is the best idea ever.
* The dragon on Skeletor's back is pretty much the same as the vintage toy, though it's obviously a new sculpt. It's a small dragon, so I assume it' not fully grown, and there's some pretty nice detail considering the style of this line. The red and purple colors just look excellent, too. Very eye catching. Very vivid. The dragon is permanently attached to the back piece of armor, so it's not a removable minifigure or anything.
* Here's a shot of the head so you can see the dragon's teeth and eyes, as well as the mouth. The sculpt is still built around an action feature, so the mouth is wide open to accommodate the water spraying feature. It does rotate, though, so you can position the dragon's head and aim it a bit.
* And yes, as I mentioned, it does spray water. It works like a simple squirt bottle with a water reservoir built into the dragon's body. Just pump the head and the dragon sprays water. I think I would have preferred a spray effect or two, like Kobra Khan, but this still works and makes a nice stand in for the vintage figure if you don't have it in your collection.
* The MOTU origins figures are built like the vintage toys but with more modern articulation and, beneath his dragon armor, that's what Skeletor is: A basic Origins figure. While their bulky frames make the articulation a bit clumsy, they do feel like an evolution of the vintage line. Imagine what you would get if you mixed a vintage figure with a MOTUC figure. They're quite fun to play with and pretty durable, feeling more like a toy than a collectible. They're also modular and can be easily separated to make your own lazy boy customs!
* The chain Skeletor uses to control the dragon is a real metal chain attached to a plastic cuff on his wrist. It slides through an attachment point on the front of his armor and is plenty long enough to move around to the back of the dragon's collar.
* The chain is held on by this little padlock piece. I lost my vintage padlock as a kid and they're now a very pricey vintage accessory, so it's pretty fun to have an official Mattel one again, even if it's not vintage. It's kind of silly but it keeps the chain on.
* Skeletor comes with a purple version of the Minicomic sword. It's a full sword, too, not just a half piece.
* Both deluxe figures in this series (Dragon Blaster Skeletor and Snake Face) come with the same minicomic: "Viper's Vice." These are still really nifty with great art and showcase the figures in this series well.
I'm very pleased with Dragon Blaster Skeletor. I would have been A-OK with some snap on spray effects for the dragon but the fact that this is a pretty close approximation of the vintage toy, just with brighter colors and updated articulation, is pretty neat. Whether you collect Origins, collect everything MOTU, collect the vintage line and supplement with these figures, or just like cool toys of skeletons using dragons as shoulder mounted artillery, there's a lot to like here. This is an Epic figure that crams in a lot of value for the money. I'm planning to review Snake Face soon, so stay tuned.
I've reviewed so many toys of Skeletor/ Keldor that he has his own review archive. Check out
Snake Mountain for all of the Skeletor reviews you could ever want!
For more Masters of the Universe Origins reviews check out the following:
The Positives:
It's a pretty straight redo of the vintage figure where most of the deluxe figures have included alternate portraits or some accessory to spice thing up a bit.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty cool they decided to go with the water squirt gimmick. It saddens me that most kids' toys nowadays don't have random gimmicks in lines like MOTU did.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter used to really like the Goo Jit Zu figures which have some cool action feature gimmicks, but they do tend to be a bit fragile. The paint wears off over time (they're stretchy) and eventually her favorite one sprung a leak. If they'd been more durable, they would be a really cool toyline in the MOTU tradition.
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